News Brief

December 10, 2004

A French diplomat accused Israelis of having a negative fixation with France. “There is a sort of anti-French neurosis in this country,” France’s ambassador to Israel, Gerard Araud, told Israel Radio on Thursday, heaping special criticism on the Gallic caricatures of television comedian Eli Yatzpan. “The Israelis are convinced the French are anti-Israel.” The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem attacked Araud’s remarks, saying in a statement that they were a breach of diplomatic decorum. Despite Paris’ recent attempts at rapprochement with the Jewish state, many Israelis are convinced that the French are increasingly anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist.